European defence companies sign Letter of Intent to establish the Bliksem EXO Consortium: Europe’s exo-atmospheric interceptor against medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles
Thales, Airbus Defence and Space, Destinus, MBDA Deutschland and Safran Electronics & Defense, will develop Europe’s first sovereign exo-atmospheric upper-layer interceptor programme, designed for full interoperability with NATO IAMD and the European Sky Shield Initiative. The Letter of Intent was signed in Paris during the inaugural meeting of the anti-ballistic coalition, in the presence of Rob Jetten, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
The anti-ballistic coalition
At the inaugural meeting of the anti-ballistic coalition at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Thales, Airbus Defence and Space, Destinus, MBDA Deutschland and Safran Electronics & Defense, today signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to establish the Bliksem EXO Consortium, a multinational European industrial partnership for the development, qualification, industrial scale production, and support of Bliksem EXO. The signing took place in the presence of Rob Jetten, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
Bliksem EXO is conceived as a sovereign European exo-atmospheric interceptor system against medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats, including Oreshnik-class systems with separating and maneuvering re-entry vehicles. It is designed for the upper layer of missile defence: detecting, tracking, and defeating MRBM/IRBM threats in the midcourse phase above the atmosphere through direct kinetic hit-to-kill impact, without an explosive warhead.
This mission complements, rather than competes with, existing and planned European lower-layer capabilities. Together, these systems form a layered European missile defence: terminal and theatre systems below, Bliksem EXO above the atmosphere. The programme is designed for full interoperability with NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) and to strengthen the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) by addressing the currently missing upper layer.
Within the consortium, Destinus serves as Consortium Lead and Prime and is responsible for system integration and the Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV); MBDA Deutschland for the interceptor booster, launcher and canister; Safran Electronics & Defense for the EKV seeker and guidance, navigation and control; Airbus Defence and Space for command and control and battle management (BMC4I); and Thales for the radar and sensor chain, from early warning to fire control.
The programme will draw on Ukraine’s operational experience in countering massed air and missile attacks during system design, testing and evaluation, subject to applicable export-control, security and governmental requirements, making Bliksem EXO not only a next-generation capability, but one built for the realities of modern warfare.
Under the LOI, the parties intend to enter into a binding Consortium Agreement within three months of the LOI’s signature. Joint engineering work across the consortium is intended to begin in August 2026, and the consortium plans to conduct an EKV test in space in 2027.
The LOI records the parties’ good-faith intentions and does not create any obligation to procure, supply, or fund the system. All activities will be subject to applicable national and European export-control laws, security requirements, intellectual-property arrangements, and relevant governmental procedures.
Comments:
“Against increasingly complex ballistic threats, everything starts with the sensor chain: seeing, tracking, and discriminating targets at extreme ranges. Thales provides this critical backbone of Bliksem EXO.” Hervé Dammann, Executive Vice-President, Land and Air Systems, Thales.
“Hit-to-kill interception above the atmosphere is the most demanding precision task in missile defence. Safran’s seeker and guidance, navigation, and control expertise will give the European kill vehicle the accuracy this mission requires.” Alexandre Ziegler, Head of the Defence Global Business Unit, Safran Electronics & Defense.
